Amid lingering South Asian tensions, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Thursday has asked India and Pakistan to settle the Kashmir problem through dialogue.
“The secretary-general reiterates his call on the parties to resolve the issue through engagement and dialogue,” his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said.
The spokesman was asked about the UN chief’s reaction to the sharply deteriorating situation in Indian occupied Kashmir, where security forces employ brutal tactics to repress political dissent and growing demands for the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination.
Guterres has previously acknowledged that he has been engaged in quiet diplomacy to bring about a dialogue between the two South Asian neighbors to resolve the decades-old Kashmir dispute.
“Why do you think I met three times the Prime Minister of Pakistan (Mohammad Nawaz Sharif) and two times the Prime Minister of India (Narendra Modi),” Guterres said with a smile, responding to a question from a Pakistani journalist about the mounting tensions in the region.
However, so far the world body has not reported what progress, if any, it has achieved toward pushing the two nuclear-armed neighbors to peace talks.
Analysts believe India-Pakistan relations are critical to peace in the entire region including Afghanistan.
But in recent months, it is the Kashmir dispute – a UN-recognized issue – that has escalated tensions and demonstrations from civilians. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hardline BJP government has used pellet guns in response to civilian demands for freedom, blinding hundreds of young people.
Meanwhile, New Delhi is trying to shift the focus of the issue by blaming Pakistan for interference in the territory, which claims as its integral part. Pakistan rejects such allegations and major powers and Islamabad see Kashmir as disputed territory, and not a part of India.
